We are continuing to share the behind the scenes of our 2021 Ukrainian Heritage Calendar. Today Oksana Armand is sharing her reflections on making the calendar. Oksana is featured on May`s page of the calendar along with Iryna Klymuk.

Here are Oksana’s reflections.

“ The idea for calendar’s May page was to recreate and capture the moment of a godmother giving blessings to her goddaughter on the eve of the wedding.  To get into the character of a godmother, I imagined the day of the photo shoot was indeed Iryna’s wedding day and she was at the beginning of a new, unknown, but exciting journey. What would the future hold for her?  Happiness?  Hardships?  I really hoped it was the former and her future would be a sea of happiness and joy.“

“Authentic Ukrainian clothes have a unique scent that triggers childhood memories of a house you grew up in and the doting love of your parents. Being a part of the calendar overfilled me with emotions! The clothes we wore and experienced are Ukrainian history and the hard work of women, who embroidered, sewed, and gave a part of themselves to these clothes.

I indeed have a goddaughter in Ukraine about Iryna’s age. She is the only goddaughter I have and who I rarely see. Iryna reminded me so much of her… that I burst into tears during the photo shoot but they were tears of joy.

Our photographers were amazing. They know how to help you get comfortable around the camera and support you throughout the photo shoot.  Natalka also did a fantastic job selecting the right outfits for each calendar page. I am so happy I had a chance to be a part of this project! I felt some of the deepest and most sincere feelings of my life during this project! I’m very grateful to everyone!”